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The British Conference of Undergraduate Research

University of Leeds

12 – 13 April 2021

 
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Delivering an Oral Presentation:

Logistics – how the session will work
• Oral presentation slots are 15 minutes long – with 10 minutes for presenting and 5 minutes for questions.
• Break out rooms for parallel sessions will open 10 minutes prior to the start of the session to allow time to introduce yourself to the session chair who will quickly brief you.
• Presentations will be loaded, and you will be given remote control of the powerpoint for the duration of your talk. Please remember to unmute yourself at the beginning of the talk.
• During the presentation the session chair will hold up a sign indicating you have 2 minutes left. At 10 minutes a sign (END/STOP) will be shown indicating you should bring your presentation to a close.
• At the end of your presentation, remain unmuted and the session chair will ask for questions, which will be submitted by the chat function and asked by the chair.
• The session chair should indicate the end of the 15 minutes by formally thanking you. You can then mute yourself.

Content – what your presentation should include
Introduction to you – include your name, your course of study and year, and your university
Outline of the presentation – explain what you are going to cover
Introduction to your research – include the title of the research and provide context (e.g. was it delivered as part of an internship programme? Dissertation? Scholarship programme?). Include co-authors if relevant and any relevant background information i.e. is it following on from other research? / did the research take place in a specific location?
Overall research aims and objectives – explain what the research project set out to do and include research question/s if appropriate
Method – describe how you gathered your data (e.g. focus groups, online surveys) including sample sizes, participants etc. Also include any limitations or potential bias (if relevant)
Results and analysis – provide key findings explaining the main headlines
Conclusions or summary – talk about anything that will happen as a result of the findings (e.g. a policy change, a toolkit, a new drug) or what might happen next
Personal reflections (optional) – if time you could include some personal reflection such as what you found most challenging or rewarding about the research
Acknowledgements – mention funding sources, collaborators and references (include as a slide but do not read through)
Thank the audience – which will bring the formal presentation to an end before questions

Tips for delivering effective presentations
• Write text in bullet points, using keywords or short sentences, avoid long paragraphs
• Make good use of visual displays (tables, graphs and images) that help you summarise your data or key messages
• Focus on the key findings and take home message. You may want to use and repeat your keywords throughout the slides to emphasise your main points
• Be consistent with font sizes and font style

Remember that BCUR will have participants from a range of disciplines and it is important that you try to explain your work using a language that can be understood by someone not familiar with your subject.

Accessibility
You should make your presentation (both visually and spoken) as accessible as possible. The following guidelines are suggested by the National Association of Disability Practitioners.
• Text should be sized between 28-32, with titles being 36-44 in size
• Arial, Calibri or Verdana are suitable fonts for clarity
• Avoid capital letters and avoid excessive use of italics and different sized fonts
• If using animation use ‘appear’ rather than ‘zoom’ or ‘spiral’ as moving text can be difficult to read
• Use dark text on a light background (such as cream, blue or green). Avoid bright white backgrounds as this can cause visual glare
• Do not place text on top of images as words are too difficult to read
• Do not use colour as the only way to convey content
• Use alt text to label your images and use smart art to create graphics, this will enable a screen reader to interpret your diagrams and pictures if required
• Speak clearly, not too fast and give people time to process information
• Use simple language and explain terms – remember this is an interdisciplinary conference so many people will not have the same level of understanding of the subject as you do

Further guidance: Visit your own library’s skills pages for guidance or use the University of Leeds’ Skills@library guidance for producing posters and presentations.
 

Producing a Flash Talk (Poster Alternative)

Logistics
The flash talk break out room parallel sessions will open 10 minutes before the session is due to start. Please join the correct break out room immediately and introduce yourself to the session chair who will brief you.
You will be introduced by the session chair to give your flash talk. After 3 minutes, the session chair will remove your slide and you should end your talk.
There will be no questions after the flash talk, although you are welcome to reply to questions in the chat function.

Preparing your flash talk
You will have 3 minutes to talk through your slide. When preparing your talk, you should imagine someone has approached your poster (at an in-person conference) and said, “Please explain your work to me”. It should include a short summary of the work carried out. Your slide will be available to view on the app and questions can be asked and answered in the chat during the session, or presenters can be contacted in the app afterwards.

Content – What your slide should look like:
You will use 1 single slide for your flash talk. You can create this much like a poster, with more text than a usual presentation slide would contain.
The slide can be either portrait or landscape, although landscape is preferable as it may fit to screens better.
Design your slide so that it tells the story of your research. You are using your slide to answer questions and explain the research process therefore consider the information you might need to refer to when talking about your project.
Using bullet points helps the reader process key points and breaks up large chunks of text.

Suggested sections:
• Overview: including background, description and research question/s
• Research Methods: including sample size, participant selection, data collection methods
• Findings: Showcase the main headlines that really answer the questions. If using graphs and illustrations make sure they are clearly labelled and large enough to be able to read easily
• Conclusions/Recommendations

Remember that BCUR will have participants from a range of disciplines and it is important that you try to explain your work using a language that can be understood by someone not familiar with your subject.

Accessibility
Consider the following when designing your poster.
• Use Arial, Calibri or Verdana fonts for clarity
• Avoid capital letters and avoid excessive use of italics and different sized fonts
• Use dark text on a light background (such as cream, blue or green). Avoid bright white backgrounds as this can cause visual glare
• Do not place text on top of images as words become difficult to read
• Use simple and clear language and avoid using too much technical jargon

Further guidance: Visit your own library’s skills pages for guidance or use the University of Leeds’ Skills@library guidance for producing posters and presentations